1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to protective covers and in particular to covers used to protect vehicles or other objects from environmental damage such as caused by paint spray or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A painter typically works near objects such as furniture, appliances, shrubbery, brick walks and the like which need to be adequately protected from accidental paint damage. The painter often drapes such objects with a flexible protective cover, such as an old cloth or plastic sheet, or a store bought paint drop cloth. A special problem arises at an office or commercial building paint job site when the painter is painting on a ladder or scaffolding extending a substantial distance up and adjacent an exterior wall and is painting immediately above parked vehicles. When the painter is painting with a paint brush or paint sprayer, small paint drops or paint spray may be released away from the painted surface and often fall on the parked vehicles beneath, thus damaging the vehicle's finish and likely angering the vehicle's owner. The painter or paint contractor may become responsible for the paint damage. A slight wind can carry the paint drops or spray to vehicles parked further away and thus expose the painter to additional damages.
Traditionally, painters have solved this problem by purchasing special vehicle covers that are elasticized around their perimeter edge. Conventional vehicle covers come in different sizes to fit different size vehicles. In use, the painter conventionally selects and places what the painter regards as an appropriate size vehicle cover over each vehicle to be covered and for each such cover slips the elasticized perimeter edge downwardly to hug the bottom portion of the vehicle. The elasticized perimeter edge is designed to prevent the conventional protective cover from slipping off or blowing off the vehicle in a wind. However, a small size protective cover if selected by the painter will not completely cover a big vehicle, and a big size protective cover if selected by the painter will not fit snugly to a small vehicle and in either case may stip or blow off, or may drape excessively upon the ground, causing a hazard to passerbys as well as exposing the vehicle to dirt and grime when the cover is removed. As a result, a painter must purchase a number of different size covers to fit the different size vehicles that may be located near the job site on any one day. Therefore, a painter or paint contractor must spend a significant sum of money to maintain an adequate supply of protective covers. In addition, an adequate supply of protective covers may take up an excessive amount of valuable storage space.
An additional problem with current protective covers is that a painter may misjudge the size of the vehicle and take a protective cover from storage, unwrap it, and attempt to cover a vehicle, only to find out that the protective cover is the wrong size. The painter will have to refold the cover, store it, and choose the right size. This wastes time, and exposes the cover to potential harm before actual use.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a single size protective cover that will fit many different size vehicles, thus reducing a painter's or paint contractor's expenses and required storage space while adequately protecting vehicles from paint damage.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a lightweight and inexpensive protective cover that will fit over different size objects other than vehicles and protect these objects from unwanted environmental exposure or damage.
Other objects will become apparent as the description proceeds.